Ice making apparatus for a fridge or freezer

ABSTRACT

An ice-making device for a refrigerator or freezer comprises: an ice-making tray having an upper side, a lower side, a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction of said tray, wherein said ice-making tray is mounted so as to be rotatable about a first axis of rotation which is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tray; a collecting container arranged underneath the ice-making tray for catching ice which falls out of said ice-making tray when the latter is in an emptying rotational position; a wall structure which, when the ice-making tray is in an ice-making rotational position, delimits a first air duct which runs underneath said ice-making tray and is open towards the underside of said tray, wherein said first air duct runs in the longitudinal direction of the tray and extends over substantially the entire length of the ice-making tray, wherein the wall structure has at least one wall element which, when the ice-making tray is in the ice-making rotational position, projects into a falling trajectory of the ice falling out of said ice-making tray and is arranged so as to be movable out of said falling trajectory; and a cold air supply system which is designed for the purpose of directing cold air into the first air duct in such a way that said cold air flows, within said first air duct, in the direction from a first longitudinal end of the tray to an opposite, second longitudinal end of said ice-making tray.

The present invention relates to an ice-making device for a refrigerator or freezer.

Refrigerators and freezers which are used in the household sector for keeping foods cool or storing them in the frozen state, are sometimes equipped with an ice-making device which is capable of producing blocks of ice which can be taken out by the user when required. In a conventional ice-making device, water is poured into an ice-making tray which is designed with a plurality of pocket-like depressions. A block of ice forms in each of these depressions. In order to bring about or assist the freezing of the water, a flow of cold air is generated which is conducted along the ice-making tray. The freezing of water takes place more quickly in the presence of a flow of cold air than in an environment with stationary air. As soon as the water in the ice-making tray is frozen, the tray is emptied. The blocks of ice produced are collected in a catching container (which is sometimes referred to in the trade by the English term “hopper”). For the purpose of emptying the tray, solutions are available in which the tray is rotated and, in addition, twisted on itself (so-called “twist-tray” ice-makers). As a result of the twisting of the tray, the blocks of ice located within it break loose from the tray; the torsion of the tray guarantees that the blocks of ice fall out of it.

One example of a conventional ice-making device is indicated in JP 2009-293872 A. According to this document, a flow of cold air is initially directed over the upper side of an ice-making tray, transversely to its longitudinal extension (said tray being longer than it is wide), is then deflected towards the underside of the tray and finally is directed back along said underside of the tray, i.e., the same air flows in succession, first over the upper side of the tray and, after that, over the underside of said tray. In addition, some of the air which is conducted over the upper side of the tray is decoupled in the deflecting region, where the deflection of the flow of air towards the underside of the tray takes place, so that it flows to a catching container located underneath said tray in order to keep blocks of ice, which are located therein after their production is complete, cool.

An object of the present invention is to make available an ice-making device which requires comparatively little installation space.

The present invention makes available an ice-making device for a refrigerator or freezer, which device comprises: an ice-making tray having an upper side, a lower side, a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction of said tray, wherein said ice-making tray is mounted so as to be rotatable about a first axis of rotation which is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tray; a collecting container arranged underneath the ice-making tray for catching ice which falls out of said ice-making tray when the latter is in an emptying rotational position; a wall structure which, when the ice-making tray is in an ice-making rotational position, delimits a first air duct which runs underneath said ice-making tray and is open towards the underside of said tray, wherein said first air duct runs in the longitudinal direction of the tray and extends over substantially the entire length of the ice-making tray, wherein the wall structure has at least one wall element which, when the ice-making tray is in the ice-making rotational position, projects into a falling trajectory of the ice falling out of said ice-making tray and is arranged so as to be movable out of said falling trajectory; and a cold air supply system which is designed for the purpose of directing cold air into the first air duct in such a way that said cold air flows, within said first air duct, in the direction from a first longitudinal end of the tray to an opposite, second longitudinal end of said ice-making tray.

In the ice-making device according to the invention, the first air duct runs in the longitudinal direction of the ice-making tray and therefore requires a comparatively small cross-sectional width. In the region in which cold air is directed into the first air duct, the cold air supply system may be of correspondingly narrow, and thereby installation space-saving, design. The movable arrangement of the wall structure guarantees that, when the ice-making tray is emptied, the ice falling out of said tray is not blocked by the wall structure but is able to fall into the collecting container unhindered.

According to one form of embodiment, the movability of the wall structure can be achieved through the fact that said wall structure has a wall element which at least partly delimits the first air duct and which is rotatably arranged for rotation about the first axis of rotation. According to another form of embodiment, the wall structure may have a wall element which at least partly delimits the first air duct and which is rotatably arranged for rotation about a second axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation. Said second axis of rotation may run—when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position—in the region of, or outside, a longitudinal lateral edge of said ice-making tray.

In one form of embodiment, the wall structure comprises a first and a second wall element, which wall elements each delimit part of the first air duct, wherein the first wall element is arranged so as to be rotatable about a second axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation, and the second wall element is arranged so as to be rotatable about a third axis of rotation which is parallel to the first and to the second axis of rotation. The second and third axes of rotation may lie—when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position—in a mirror-inverted manner in relation to a longitudinal central axis of said ice-making tray. When observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, the second axis of rotation may run in the region of, or outside, a first longitudinal lateral edge of said ice-making tray, whereas the third axis of rotation runs in the region of, or outside, an opposite, second longitudinal lateral edge of said ice-making tray.

In one form of embodiment, the cross-sectional area of a duct space of the first air duct, which duct space is delimited between the wall structure and an imaginary enveloping surface of the underside of the tray, decreases in the direction from the first longitudinal end of the tray to the second longitudinal end of said tray. This reduction in cross-section has an accelerating effect upon the cold air flowing within the duct space and guarantees a satisfactory cooling effect, even in those regions of the ice-making tray which are located remotely from the first longitudinal end of the tray. The reduction in cross-section may be, for example, of continuous design; alternatively or additionally, it may be brought about by one or more stepped transitions. If the point at issue here is an imaginary enveloping surface of the underside of the tray, this should take account of the possibility of the ice-making tray being of uneven design on its underside, for example as a consequence of the presence of pocket-like depressions in said ice-making tray, in each of which a block of ice is produced. The enveloping surface is imagined for the purpose of theoretically masking these unevennesses in the underside of the tray.

In one form of embodiment, the wall structure also delimits a second air duct which, when the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, runs underneath said tray in its longitudinal direction and within which at least some of the cold air flows back, after flowing through the first air duct, in the direction from the second longitudinal end of the tray to the first longitudinal end of said tray. Under these circumstances, a deflecting surface for deflecting the cold air out of the first air duct and into the second air duct may be arranged in the region of the second longitudinal end of the tray. This deflecting surface may be formed by the wall structure and may accordingly be arranged in a movable manner. Alternatively, it is conceivable for the deflecting surface to be provided on a framework or housing which is arranged in a stationary manner and on which the ice-making tray is rotatably mounted.

The invention will be further explained below with the aid of the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 represents, diagrammatically, components of an ice-making device according to one example of embodiment;

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b represent, diagrammatically, an ice-producing state and an emptying state, respectively, of the ice-making device according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 represents a perspective view of an ice-making module for an ice-making device according to another example of embodiment, in an ice-producing state;

FIG. 4 represents a perspective view of an ice-making module according to another example of embodiment;

FIG. 5 represents a perspective view of an ice-making module according to another example of embodiment:

FIG. 6 represents a perspective view of an ice-making module according to another example of embodiment; and

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b represent a perspective view and a side view, respectively, of an ice-making module according to another example of embodiment.

The reader is referred, first of all, to FIG. 1. The ice-making device represented therein is designated, in general, by 10. It comprises an ice-making tray 12 which is produced, for example, from plastic and within which ice cubes are produced. For this purpose, said ice-making tray 12 has, in a manner of which no further details are represented, a plurality of ice cube-producing pockets which each serve for producing one ice cube. The ice-making tray 12 is longer than it is wide; in the direction of its longitudinal extension, said ice-making tray 12 has a greater number of ice cube-producing pockets, arranged one behind another, than in its transverse direction. For example, said ice-making tray 12 is designed with two rows of ice cube-producing pockets, which rows are located side by side in the transverse direction of the tray and each have, for example, four, five or six ice cube-producing pockets one behind another in the longitudinal direction of the tray. In a manner which is known per se, the ice cube-producing pockets may, for example, be formed by trough-like depressions in the floor of the ice-making tray 12.

The ice-making tray 12 can be filled, by means of a water supply apparatus 14, with water which is then to be frozen to form ice cubes. In the exemplary case shown, the water supply apparatus 14 has a water storage container 16 as well as a feed 18 via which water from said water storage container 16 can be introduced into the ice-making tray 12 in a manner which is controlled quantity-wise.

Located underneath the ice-making tray 12 is a catching container 20 in which the ice cubes which have been produced and ejected from said ice-making tray 12 can be caught and collected.

A cold air supply system 22 serves to blow cold air, which has been drawn from a cold air source of which no further details are represented, into an air duct 24 which runs underneath the ice-making tray 12 in the longitudinal direction of said tray, i.e. in the direction from a first longitudinal end 26 to an opposite, second longitudinal end 28 of the ice-making tray 12, and is open towards said ice-making tray 12 (i.e. towards its underside). Within the air duct 24, the cold air, which is discharged from an orifice 30 of the cold air supply system 22 arranged in the region of the first longitudinal end 26 of the tray, flows along the underside of said tray and, in the process, extracts thermal energy from the material of the tray and from the water located in said ice-making tray 12. The freezing of the water within the tray 12 is brought about, or at least assisted, by this extraction of thermal energy.

The air duct 24 is delimited downwards (i.e. in the direction of the catching container 20) and optionally also towards the side (i.e. perpendicularly to the plane of the drawing in FIG. 1) by a wall structure 32 which extends over substantially the entire length of the ice-making tray 12. According to one example of embodiment, the wall structure 32, of which only a part which delimits the air duct 24 downwards (i.e. in the direction of the catching container 20) is indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 1, is formed by a wall element 34 of trough-like or channel-like configuration (see FIGS. 2 a, 2 b) which has a trough bottom 36 and also trough side walls 38 which lie opposite one another. It can be seen in FIGS. 2 a, 2 b that the trough side walls 38 are raised along the longitudinal side walls of the ice-making tray 12, under which circumstances there may be an intervening space between the trough side walls 38 and said longitudinal side walls of the ice-making tray 12 (as in FIGS. 2 a, 2 b), or alternatively said trough side walls 38 may rest against said longitudinal side walls of the ice-making tray 12. In the latter case, a space which is closed all round in cross-section may be formed between the ice-making tray 12 and the wall element 34.

The ice-making tray 12 is arranged so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation 42 (see FIGS. 2 a, 2 b) by means of a, for example electromotive, driving unit 40. This rotatability is necessary in order to eject a charge of ice cubes out of the ice-making tray 12 after their production has been completed. The driving unit 40 is controlled by a control unit 44 controlled by a processor for example, and is capable of rotating the ice-making tray 12 out of an ice-making rotational position shown in FIG. 2 a by at least 90° and optionally still further into an emptying rotational position which is indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 2 b and in which the ice cubes are able to fall out of said ice-making tray 12 and into the catching container 20.

So that the wall element 34 does not get in the way of the ice cubes which are falling out, it is arranged for joint rotation with the ice-making tray 12 about the axis of rotation 42. When the ice-making tray 12 rotates out of the ice-making rotational position in the direction of the emptying rotational position, the wall element 34 thus rotates with it. From a certain angle of rotation onwards, twisting of the ice-making tray 12 sets in, as actuation of the driving unit 40 continues, following which the ice cubes produced in said ice-making tray 12 break loose from it. This technique, which is known in the trade as a “twist-tray” technique, is known per se; it is therefore possible to dispense with more detailed explanations at this point.

For a satisfactory cooling action of the cold air flowing within the air duct 24, even in the regions which are remote from the first longitudinal end 26 of the tray (i.e. are close to the second longitudinal end 28), the cross-sectional area of the air duct 24 decreases as the distance from the first longitudinal end 26 of the tray increases. In the exemplary case in FIG. 1, the distance between the trough bottom 36 of the wall element 34 and the underside of the ice-making tray 12 diminishes, for this purpose, as the distance from the longitudinal end 26 of the tray increases. For the sake of simplicity, the ice-making tray 12 is represented graphically with a flat underside of said tray in FIG. 1. In practice, it may be that said ice-making tray 12 is designed with numerous unevennesses on its underside which are caused by the presence of the ice cube-producing pockets. The decrease which has been mentioned in the cross-sectional area of the air duct 24 as the distance from the first longitudinal end 26 of the tray increases then bears a relation to a decrease in the cross-sectional area of that space which is delimited between the wall element 34 and an imaginary enveloping surface of the underside of the tray (the said enveloping surface evening out the unevennesses mentioned). For example, the cross-sectional area of the air duct 24 may decrease continuously in the direction of the second longitudinal end 28, that is to say over substantially the entire length of said air duct 24 or only over one or more partial portions.

In the other figures, components which are the same, or act in the same way, as in the previous figures are provided with the same reference numerals, but supplemented by a small letter. Provided nothing to the contrary emerges below, the reader is referred, for the purpose of explaining these components, to the preceding remarks in connection with FIGS. 1, 2 a and 2 b.

FIG. 3 shows an ice-making module 46 a which can be preassembled as a structural unit and has a module frame 48 a with end plates 50 a, 52 a of said frame. The ice-making tray 12 a is rotatably mounted on the module frame 48 a. Said module frame 48 a also serves as a carrier for the orifice 30 a of a cold air supply system (for instance of the system 22 in FIG. 1), and also for the driving unit 40 a which may be coupled to the ice-making tray 12 a via a reduction gear, of which no further details are represented. Leading to the driving unit 40 a is an electric control cable 54 a with a plug-type connection 56 a by means of which said control cable 54 a can be connected to a control unit (for instance the control unit 44 in FIG. 1) of which no further details are represented in FIG. 3.

Neither a catching container for the ice cubes produced in the ice-making tray 12 a nor a water supply apparatus for pouring water into said ice-making tray 12 a is contained in the ice-making module 46 a. For this purpose, recourse may be had to the catching container 20 and the water supply apparatus 14 according to FIG. 1.

As in the exemplary case in FIGS. 2 a, 2 b, the wall element 34 a is arranged for joint rotation with the ice-making tray 12 a, relative to the module frame 48 a, about the axis of rotation 42 a.

A lever 58 a which is pivotably attached to the module frame 48 a serves to detect the filling level in a catching container (for instance the catching container 20 in FIG. 1) which is located underneath the ice-making module 46 a and in which the ice ejected from the tray 12 a is collected. Said lever 58 a assumes a different position of pivoting, relative to the module frame 48 a, depending upon the level to which the said catching container is filled with blocks of ice. Said lever may, for example, be coupled to an electrical switch (of which no further details are represented), which transmits a switching signal to a control unit when a predetermined filling level within the catching container is reached. As soon as this signal is generated, this means that there is a sufficient stock of blocks of ice in the catching container and further production of ice can therefore be interrupted.

The ice-making module 46 b according to FIG. 4 differs from the ice-making module according to FIG. 3 through the fact that the wall element 34 b is held on the module frame 48 b so as to be rotatable, relative to the latter, about an axis of rotation 60 b which is parallel to the axis of rotation 42 b of the ice-making tray 12 b. The axis of rotation 60 b runs laterally beside the ice-making tray 12 b (when the latter is located in its ice-making rotational position which is shown in FIG. 4). Said ice-making tray 12 b and the wall element 34 b are both in driving connection with the driving unit of the ice-making module 46 b (of which driving unit no further details are represented in FIG. 4). Under these circumstances, the driving connection may be designed in such a way that the wall element 34 b rotates into its position which is shown in FIG. 4, even before the rotation of the ice-making tray 12 b in the direction of the latter's emptying rotational position begins. Alternatively, it is naturally possible for the wall element 34 b to open substantially simultaneously with the rotation of the ice-making tray 12 b (i.e. into a rotational position which leaves the falling trajectory of the ice cubes clear). Also clearly visible in FIG. 4 is the configuration of the ice-making tray 12 b with a number of pockets 62 b which each serve to produce an ice cube.

It is conceivable for the wall element 34 b to be divided in two lengthwise in the region of the trough bottom 36 b and for one of the halves of the trough which are thus produced to be left so as to be rotatable about the axis of rotation 60 b, and on the other hand for the other of the halves of the trough which are produced to be mounted rotatably on the module frame 48 b in the region of the opposite longitudinal side of the ice-making tray 12 b. This variant is shown in FIG. 5. Here, the wall structure 32 c is formed by two wall elements 34-1 c, 34-2 c which each form one half of the trough and are mounted on the module frame 48 c so as to be rotatable about separate axes of rotation 60-1 c, 60-2 c. The two axes of rotation 60-1 c, 60-2 c are arranged so as to be substantially mirror-symmetrical in relation to the axis of rotation 42 c of the ice-making tray 12 c. The wall elements 34-1 c, 34-2 c can be moved between the open position shown in FIG. 5 and a closed position in which they form a trough, which is closed at least to a very large extent, underneath the ice-making tray 12 c (in a manner comparable to the situation shown in FIG. 2 a).

In the example of embodiment according to FIG. 6, the wall element 34 d is not rotatably attached to the module frame 48 d, unlike the previous examples of embodiment, but is displaceable rectilinearly (along a displacement-indicating arrow 64 d shown in the drawing) in the direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the ice-making tray 12 d, for example by means of a toothed-rack guide. In this way too, the wall structure 32 d can be moved out of the falling trajectory of the ice cubes when the ice-making tray 12 d is to be emptied.

Finally, in the example of embodiment according to FIGS. 7 a, 7 b, the wall structure 32 e forms, in addition to the air duct 24 e, an air duct 66 e within which at least some of the cold air, which flows within said air duct 24 e in the direction from the first longitudinal end 26 e of the tray to the second longitudinal end 28 e of said tray, is conducted back in the reverse direction. In the region of the second longitudinal end 28 e of the tray, the wall structure 32 e forms a deflecting surface 68 e (see FIG. 7 b) which brings about deflection of the cold air coming from the air duct 24 e into the air duct 66 e. The direction of flow of the cold air within the air ducts 24 e, 66 e is illustrated in FIG. 7 b by flow-indicating arrows which are shown in the drawing.

For the purpose of forming the air duct 66 e, the wall structure 32 e has another wall element 70 which curves round the wall element 34 e, underneath the latter, and leaves an intervening space in relation to said wall element 34 e. The air duct 66 e runs within this intervening space.

An orifice belonging to a cold air supply system, from which cold air is blown into the air duct 24 e, is not shown in FIGS. 7 a, 7 b. The ice-making module 46 e can, of course, be designed with such an orifice. For example, the orifice 30 a in FIG. 3 can be adopted for the ice-making module 10 e with the modification that separate air paths are constructed within said orifice, namely one for the purpose of feeding cold air into the air duct 24 e and another for the purpose of receiving cold air from the air duct 66 e. If the parts of the cold air supply system which are connected to the orifice are configured in a suitable manner with an outward duct and a return duct, the used cold air (i.e. the cold air which is conducted back within the air duct 66 e) can be directed via the orifice directly into the return duct.

The movability of the wall structure 32 e relative to the module frame 48 e (for the purpose of moving the wall elements 34 e, 70 e out of the falling trajectory of the ice cubes) may be comparable to the example of embodiment according to FIG. 3, i.e. the wall structure 32 e as a whole (including the two wall elements 34 e, 70 e and the deflecting surface 68 e) may be rotatable about the axis of rotation 42 e of the ice-making tray 12 e. 

1. An ice-making device for a refrigerator or freezer, the device comprising: an ice-making tray having an upper side, a lower side, a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction of the ice-making tray, wherein the ice-making tray is mounted so as to be rotatable about a first axis of rotation which is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the ice-making tray; a collecting container arranged underneath the ice-making tray for catching ice which falls out of the ice-making tray when the latter is in an emptying rotational position; a wall structure which, when the ice-making tray is in an ice-making rotational position, delimits a first air duct which runs underneath the ice-making tray and is open towards an underside of the ice-making tray, wherein the first air duct runs in the longitudinal direction of the ice-making tray and extends over substantially the entire length of the ice-making tray, wherein the wall structure has at least one wall element which, when the ice-making tray is in the ice-making rotational position, projects into a falling trajectory of the ice falling out of the ice-making tray and is arranged so as to be movable out of the falling trajectory; and a cold air supply system which directs cold air into the first air duct in such a way that the cold air flows, within the first air duct, in the direction from a first longitudinal end of the ice-making tray to an opposite, second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray.
 2. The ice-making device according to claim 1, wherein the wall structure has a wall element which at least partly delimits the first air duct and which is rotatably arranged for rotation about the first axis of rotation.
 3. The ice-making device according to claim 1, wherein the wall structure has a wall element which at least partly delimits the first air duct and which is rotatably arranged for rotation about a second axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation.
 4. The ice-making device according to claim 3, wherein the second axis of rotation runs, when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, in the region of, or outside, a longitudinal lateral edge of the ice-making tray.
 5. The ice-making device according to claim 1, wherein the wall structure has a first wall element and a second wall element, wherein each of the first wall element and the second wall element delimits part of the first air duct, wherein the first wall element is arranged so as to be rotatable about a second axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation, and the second wall element is arranged so as to be rotatable about a third axis of rotation which is parallel to the first axis of rotation and to the second axis of rotation.
 6. The ice-making device according to claim 5, wherein the second axis of rotation and the third axis of rotation lie, when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, in a mirror-inverted manner in relation to a longitudinal central axis of the ice-making tray.
 7. The ice-making device according to claim 5, wherein, when observed in a top view of the ice-making tray in the ice-making rotational position, the second axis of rotation runs in the region of, or outside, a first longitudinal lateral edge of the ice-making tray, and the third axis of rotation runs in the region of, or outside, an opposite, second longitudinal lateral edge of the ice-making tray.
 8. The ice-making device according to claim 1, wherein a cross-sectional area of a duct space of the first air duct, which duct space is delimited between the wall structure and an enveloping surface of the underside of the ice-making tray, decreases in the direction from the first longitudinal end of the ice-making tray to the second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray.
 9. The ice-making device according to claim 8, wherein the cross-sectional area of the duct space decreases continuously over at least a partial portion of the length of the first air duct.
 10. The ice-making device according to claim 1, wherein the wall structure also delimits a second air duct which, when the ice-making tray is in the ice-making rotational position, runs underneath the ice-making tray in the longitudinal direction and within which at least some of the cold air flows back, after flowing through the first air duct, in a direction from the second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray to the first longitudinal end of the ice-making tray, a deflecting surface for deflecting the cold air out of the first air duct and into the second air duct being arranged in the region of the second longitudinal end of the ice-making tray.
 11. The ice-making device according to claim 10, wherein the deflecting surface is formed by the wall structure. 